Exekiel 4:  Northern tribes' seven-times punishment = guess when?
 
Hello Doves,,,
 
There are scattered web pages and forums, which discuss Ezekiel chapter 4, and his being commanded by God to lie on his side for 390 days, for the sins of Israel (the ten northern tribes),,,,and that if they did not repent, the punishment would be 7 times, per Leviticus, and a day-for-a-year.   Which equals a total of 2730 years altogether. (7 X 390)   Some places say that Assyria's final seige of the northern kingdom, taking them captive, was in 720 b.c.,,,but most others say the year was 721 b.c.  The northern tribes did NOT REPENT,,,so the judgment stood, the total would be served, for the scattered tribes, for 2730 years.
       In the 4th chapter of Ezekiel, he was told to lie on his side, for Judah, 40 days,,,and for Israel, 390 days.for their many horrific sins of idolatry and sabbath/feast abominations.   Israel, the northern tribes, did not repent.
       God wanted to very vividly illustrate this to the northern tribes (and Ezekiel at that point didn't even know where they were,,,let alone be a "watchman" for them,,,so this refers to a very long period of time). beyond Ezekiel's predicament of that time, of having to act out this "picture" for God.   God goes on to say that the punishment will include a severe lack of food, and war, and having to use "dung" for fuel.....picturing their complete fulfillment, right up through the tribulation years (or at least the first 3 1/2 years...) (Ezekiel talked God out of having to use human dung,,,enough, already,,,,and God relented, and said,,,OK, you can use cow dung…….)  Notice also that the city of Jerusalem is involved in a seige, in Ezekiel's little drama.....and Jerusalem will indeed be attacked during the tribulation years.....
       The time period, would extend, then for 7 X 390,,,,2730 years,,,and from 721 b.c., adding 2730 years, would bring us to the year 2010.....
        If the rapture were to happen THIS year,,,,then 2010 would be mid-tribulation.  And, indeed, the northern tribes will have continued suffering through the first half of the tribulation........for this 2730 years is directed at ISRAEL, not the church.....
       here is one good page I found on this subject,,,only one page (pdf),,,but well illustrated with a little chart....
 
http://shipofthewest.com/Israels_prophetic_disipline.pdf
 
                                WAITING !     your sister in Christ,,,,,,,,,Arlene
and below, the chapter to which I refer:
 
Ezekiel Chapter 4
1 Thou also, son of man, take thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even Jerusalem:
2 And lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and cast a mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against it round about.
3 Moreover take thou unto thee an iron pan, and set it for a wall of iron between thee and the city: and set thy face against it, and it shall be besieged, and thou shalt lay siege against it. This shall be a sign to the house of Israel.
4 Lie thou also upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it: according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it thou shalt bear their iniquity.
5 For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: so shalt thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.
6 And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.
7 Therefore thou shalt set thy face toward the siege of Jerusalem, and thine arm shall be uncovered, and thou shalt prophesy against it.
8 And, behold, I will lay bands upon thee, and thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days of thy siege.
9 Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.
10 And thy meat which thou shalt eat shall be by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.
11 Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of an hin: from time to time shalt thou drink.
12 And thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.
13 And the LORD said, Even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.
14 Then said I, Ah Lord GOD! behold, my soul hath not been polluted: for from my youth up even till now have I not eaten of that which dieth of itself, or is torn in pieces; neither came there abominable flesh into my mouth.
15 Then he said unto me, Lo, I have given thee cow's dung for man's dung, and thou shalt prepare thy bread therewith.
16 Moreover he said unto me, Son of man, behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment:
17 That they may want bread and water, and be astonied one with another, and consume away for their iniquity